Dog Training Quotes

Dog Training Quotes

This page contains some of the best dog training quotes I have heard over the years. It will be updated regularly with additional wisdom. Last Updated: 12/06/2022

Contemporary Dog Training Quotes

Excellence requires that you not be satisfied - Michael Ellis
Understand, a poorly socialized but friendly dog can easily start a fight he’s not looking or prepared for. If I ran up to every stranger I met and tried to hug them, sooner or later, someone would punch me in the face. - Chad Mackin
Excitement and Frustration equals Fuck You - Jay Jack
Your dog is not being a problem, your dog is having a problem - Chad Mackin
Great dog trainers have broad skills, not inflexible ideologies - Ralf Weber
Pattern plus Relevance equals Response - Chad Mackin
If you don’t need it, don’t use it. 
– Michael Ellis
Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen - Orhan Pamuk
Don't make your out command a signal for war - Michael Ellis
Train the dog in front of you - Denise Fenzi
Dog training is a never-ending process of evolving - Ivan Balabanov
Be the most interesting human your dog has ever met. 
– Ralf Weber
People get a dog, because they want a friend. People hire a dog trainer, because they don’t want their friend to be an asshole. 
– Chad Mackin
The dog must always have hope. 
– Bart Bellon
Be firm in all you do. Be gentle in how you do it. 
– Chad Mackin (adopted from Buck Brannaman)
The answer to any question: ‘It depends on the dog.’ 
– Michael Ellis
Timing; the difference between making it better or making it worse. 
– Ralf Weber
If the dog does not perform well, living a good life, being well-fed, and with social interactions, the training system is flawed - Ivan Balabanov
Stubborn is a good thing. If they are doing the wrong thing they are stubborn. If they are doing the right thing they are ‘committed’ … just get them stubborn on the right thing. 
– Chad Mackin
I can lure with the best of them, but why would I want to? 
– Bart Bellon

More Contemporary Dog Training Quotes

Prevent what you can not control and control what you teach. 
– Duke Ferguson
A boring socialization is a good socialization. It’s hours of boredom punctuated with moments of sheer terror. 
– Chad Mackin
My goal with every client is, they don’t need me anymore. 
– Robin McFarlane
If you want to become a great trainer, get your ass in group class. 
– Chad Mackin
Leadership is protection and direction. 
– Cesar Millan
Being a professional isn’t about not making mistakes. You’re going to make mistakes. Get over it. Get over yourself. Being a professional is about how you handle those mistakes. 
– Marc Goldberg
It’s not a problem, unless it’s a problem. 
– Chad Mackin
The best dog training method is the one the client will actually do - Sarah Dixon
Training for compliance is not the same as training for motivation - Tecla Walton
Find a game, blow it out their ass, give ’em a rub down. 
– Jay Jack
In dog training you must stay un-fucked. 
– Bart Bellon
Dogs negotiate through threat of violence and escalation of force - Jay Jack
If the dog clearly shows motivation and is searching for the correct answer, more intensity in the aversive is not useful - Ivan Balabanov
Always challenge, never overwhelm. 
– Chad Mackin
The biggest problem with positive reinforcement is how well it works, until it doesn’t. 
– Pat Stuart
The only people who care that you faded the lure, are other dog trainers. 
– Josh Moran
If you want the dog to stop fighting the leash, stop using the leash to fight the dog. 
– Chad Mackin
Dogs should be allowed as much liberty as they can responsibly handle. The greatest gift of training is that it increases the dog’s ability to handle liberty. 
– Chad Mackin
If the leash wraps around you … move it. 
– Jay Jack

More Contemporary Dog Training Quotes

It’s easier to steer than stop a dog. 
– Chad Mackin
The effectiveness of a punisher is 100% dependent on how instructive it is - Dr. Ian Dunbar
If the best, that exists now isn’t good enough, do better - Bart Bellon
I am responsible for what I say. I am not responsible for what you hear. 
– Bart Bellon
Don’t push dogs past their desire - Jay Jack
You’re not done training the dog, until you can trust him at liberty. 
– Chad Mackin
“… and he follows obedience with commitment. 
– Jay Jack
Just because a dog is not giving you the response you're looking for, doesn't mean he is a hard dog. - Ivan Balabanov
I’m not dumb enough to think I know the only way to train a dog 
– Pat Nolan
Large field socialization for dogs is like putting a troubled dog in a field full of motivational speakers. 
– Jason Vasconi
Train in the simplest and fastest way, with the dog wanting to do it - Ivan Balabanov
Never be more invested in the success of the dog than the owner is. 
– Marc Goldberg
Just because we can use pressure with a dog doesn’t mean we should rely on it. 
– Pat Nolan
The worst dog I’ve ever seen, was raised by a behavioral psychologist - Dr Jordan B Peterson
If the dog does not perform well, living a good life, being well-fed, and with social interactions, the training system is flawed. 
– Ivan Balabanov
Good dog training is undramatic - Michael Ellis

Historical Dog Training Quotes

Most of what people call aggression in dogs is really just an inappropriate response to fear and uncertainty. The way to address the problem is taking away the fear of the unknow, by making it known. 
– Dick Russel
Your dog is doing the best it can with the information you are providing - Unknown
This old dog, ain’t half bad. 
– Dick Russel
The only hard and fast rule is, there are no hard and fast rules. 
– Captain Arthur Haggerty
Dogs are most joyful, when they get to do the things that fulfill them - Dick Russell
You have to do what is best for the dog. 
– Captain Arthur Haggerty
Growling, snapping and snarling are efforts to avoid a conflict, not start one. 
– Dick Russel
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re probably right. 
– Henry Ford
You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Just thinking that my dog loves me more than I love him, I feel shame. 
– Konrad Lorenz
Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin - Ivan Pavlov

Universal Quotes

The fundamental issue among knowledgeable animal behaviorists is that anthropomorphization with animals is generally the appropriate tactic unless you have reason to doubt it. Because there is continuity between animals and us rather than discontinuity. The idea that the anthropomorphization of animals is inappropriate is something derived from 1950s behaviorism. 
– Dr. Jorden B. Peterson
Learning is not an event. Learning is a process. 
– unknown
Accumulation of information does not mean you actually know. 
– Ivan Balabanov
It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become. 
– Dr. Seuss
It takes as long as it takes. 
– Unknown
If you want people to hear you, speak up. If you want people to listen, speak softer. 
– Chad Mackin
Repetition builds success and consistency speeds it up. 
– Unknown
You can’t become less scared, you can only become more brave. 
– Jordan Petersen
You don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. 
– Pat Stuart
If something has been heavily reinforced, the first reaction to failure is persistence. 
– Jay Jack
We don’t know, what we don’t know. 
– Bart Bellon
Skill = Talent x Effort; Achievement = Skill x Effort 
– Angela Duckwort (from ‘Grit’)
The goal of the teacher is to help create students that transcend the teacher. 
– Eugene Burger
Anticipation is the genesis of motivation. 
– Chad Mackin
Arrogance is the brother of ignorance and humility is the sister of wisdom 
– Glenn Cooke
One of the great challenges in life is knowing enough to think you’re right, but not knowing enough to know you’re wrong. 
– Neil deGrasse Tyson
There is no point to practice when you are not ready to learn. 
– Ivan Balabanov
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. 
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. 
– Chip Heath
If you don’t understand how something works, you can’t improve upon it. 
– Ivan Balabanov
Parents matter, but don’t make the difference. 
– Robert Plomin
The ideal emotional state for learning is a state of a ‘safe emergency’ 
– Louis Cozolino

More Dog Training Quotes in Memes

Treat Every Dog Like a Good Friend In Need of Help - Chad Mackin
Quote by: Chad Mackin
The Master Has Failed More Times Than The Beginner Has Even Tried - Stephen McCranie
Quote by: Stephen McCranie
To Your Dog You Are The Whole World
Source Unknown
Always Give The Dog The Benefit Of The Doubt - Martin Deeley
Quote by: Martin Deeley
Clearly It Is Very Exciting To Be A Dog
Source Unknown
All Dogs Are Emotional Support Animals
Source Unknown

References

Websites for some of the people who have contributed the best dog training quotes to the dog world.